


New country, New school, same problems

by Sibunaalloverthat



Category: House of Anubis
Genre: Bisexual Eddie Miller, Eddies a player until patricia, F/M, Season 2 Rewrite, Season 3 rewrite, slowburn peddie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:06:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 14,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24548095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sibunaalloverthat/pseuds/Sibunaalloverthat
Summary: Eddie Miller is forced to come to England and start a new school. He was known as a flirt back in America and he has no intention of that changing here that is until he meets a certain new classmate with a tendency to yack.
Relationships: Eddie Miller/Patricia Williamson
Comments: 20
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My take on Eddie during his arrival in season 2, with some peddie thrown in.

Eddie Miller could not believe that he had been forced to go to England. Forced to "reconnect" with his dad. It was all his usually laid back mother's idea of a punishment for being kicked out of yet another school.

He really wasn't to blame for it though. It wasn't his fault that the principal's daughter was cute OR that Principal Jenkins had walked in on them sans all upper body clothing. Maybe it would have been ok if they had been dating but Eddie didn't date. He flirted, he made out, he had sex but he never dated anyone, not properly at least. It's probably bad for him to admit it but he just lost interest after a couple of weeks. Their banter got stale or they got too clingy so he ended it. Usually on good terms though or school would have been Hell. BUT, hey, England was a new start with new people to flirt with, that was the silver lining he was taking from this.

Eddie had made his way to Mr Sweets' office and knocked hesitantly on the door. Mr Sweets was Eddie's estranged father who had disappeared from his life when he was just a child. Eddie resented that and had no intention of letting his father back into his life so easily. In fact as far as he was concerned he father was less than a stranger to him.

Mr Sweet ushered Eddie to a seat at his desk where they proceeded to have an awkward, stilted conversation. Eric Sweet trying his best to be welcoming in the weird circumstances, Eddie being laconic answering with an abrupt "yes" , "no" , a sigh or with a shrug of his shoulders.

Eddie took in all the information he needed though. 1. He needed to put in an effort at this new school. 2. He was going to reside in Anubis House and 3. His dad wasn't trying hard enough for his liking. Well, fine by him, two can play that game.

"I don't want anyone to know that you're my dad." Eddie requested of the older man, with just a hint of spite in his voice. " I mean it's going to be hard enough fitting into a new school without everyone knowing I'm your son."

"I can understand that." Eric replied forlorn. He hadn't been expecting reuniting with his son to be easy but it still hurt that he couldn't acknowledge the boy as his son. "Maybe, we could get to know one another, have a weekly dinner date?"

Eddie against his own instinct agreed to this, with the stipulation that nobody else would ever know.

They sat in awkward silence, clearly both uncomfortable in the current situation. Mr Sweet could tell that Eddie wanted to leave so led him to the common room to wait while he printed off a copy of the school rules, a school map and a class schedule for him.

Eddie was through the door quick, glad to be away from his father. He hadn't expected to feel so insecure in his father's presence. He wanted to act tough, but it had made him feel the way he did when he was just a child who realised his dad was not coming back.

The common room was empty as everyone else was in class, so Eddie threw himself into the sofa and that's when the days travelling caught up to him and he fell asleep.

Not long after he was rudely awakened by a bump to the feet and a brash "Stick your feet in,will you?"


	2. Chapter 2

"Stick your feet in will you?" A voice said waking Eddie from his nap, it took him a second to place where he was and why he was there. Then he blinked clearing his vision to look at the girl who'd woken him, she was glaring at him. Great, he'd already made an enemy. 

"You woke me." 

"Yeah, well students lounges are for lounging not for sleeping, clues in the name."

Eddie explained his reason for being asleep in the common room but admittedly he could have done it nicer and not added the sarcastic "Hermione" to the end. The girl did not seem thrilled with that. "Great, that's all we need another patronising American whose only reference to the UK is Harry Potter. Who are you anyway?" She said looking him up and down.

"Who are you?" Eddie retorted giving her the once over. He could already tell that she could hold her own and he liked that in a girl.

"I asked first." Was her childish reply to which Eddie laughed out a "really?" Which seemed to bother her even more, she carried on though. "Next time you trip someone up remember its considered polite to apologise in this country."

"Do you ever stop talking? I should call you Blabs or Yacker" her face contorted with disgust and that's how Eddie knew that Yacker was the nickname that was going to stick.

"Maybe, I should call you a cab back to the airport." Eddie was in his element, this was how he liked to flirt and this was the type of girl he liked to flirt with. Feisty. 

Eddie let out a slow clap and a " devastating", letting her know her insult hadn't rattled him.

The girl took this as her cue to leave. "As much as I'd love to stand here trading stereotypes, I'll think I'll go and hang someplace else." Eddie waved her away, but he was actually sad to see her go, flirting with her was the first time he'd felt in his element since getting off the plane.

He watched her as she left the room and heard her friend say "He's pretty cute." He had to agree, he thought he was adorable. He didn't hear Yacker's reply and for some reason it bothered him not knowing if she agreed that he was cute or not.

But the room had now filled with other students and that meant that Eddie had a whole new playing field of people to flirt with, the red head would soon go out of his mind like all the others before her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

Eddie had gotten his paperwork and had started to make his way to Anubis House. Taking a quick tour of the school first. People had been watching him pass by, intrigued by the new boy. Some ignored him, others gave flirtatious smiles, which he promptly returned. He'd make friends in no time. Eddie was an easy going guy.

As he climbed the steps up to Anubis House with his suitcase in tow, he admittedly felt slightly nervous, although he was confident in his ability to make new friends, he was dreading having to live with people that he'd never met. He'd only ever lived with his mom, so this would be a new experience for him. He hoped his fellow Anubis residents were fun, he didn't want to be stuck with a bunch or bores.

He entered the house and to his disbelief saw Yacker or whatever her actual name was. He should find that out, not that he actually cared or anything.

He approached her thinking how fun this would be "Well, if it isn't the Yacker?" He watched as her head swivelled towards him and her mouth fell open in shock. "No." Was her reaction, but he'd figured it would be. "Please, tell me you're not staying here.?"

"Well, as a matter of principle, I don't like to stay anywhere too long." That seemed like the right statement to go with to make him seem cool and mysterious, which was the attitude he'd decided to take with her.

She replied something about him being just " another stupid boy in the house." Or at least that's what he'd thought she'd said, he'd believed that all Brits had the same accent until he'd got here and realised that they were just as varied as in the US, but hers was one of the hardest ones he'd came across to decipher.

"Could you slow down your roll a bit, it's a bit hard to understand your accent." He mocked. "Cute, but kinda whiny." Cute? Had he accidentally just complemented her? She didn't seem to have noticed at least, seemingly only picking up on the whiny anyway.

He took this opportunity to introduce himself, hoping she'd reveal her name in return.

He stood his hand out to shake. "Name's Eddie by the way." His hand went ignored.

"Eddie Krueger?" She'd insulted him again. He laughed and corrected her "Freddie. Freddie Krueger."

"Whatever, you're still a nightmare." He was loving this.

"As much as i'd like to stay and hang" and he really would " I have to report to some guy named Vincent or Victor."

"No idea." She was lying,he knew it but he didn't mind.

As he went to leave the living room Yacker's friend from earlier passed him. He had to know more about Yacker, so he asked "is your friend always so...?"

"Yep." Came the lightning quick reply. Eddie didn't know how he felt about the fact that she was seemingly like this all the time, he'd been hoping this was her way of flirting, like it was his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to anybody who left comments or kudos it means a lot.


	4. Chapter 4

Eddie had enjoyed a surprisingly good sleep that night. He'd fell asleep as soon as he'd gone to bed. He hadn't even met his roommate, Fabian, yet, but he guessed he would when he dragged himself out of bed and into the ridiculous school uniform they were forcing him to wear.

Eddie showered, dressed and made his way in for breakfast, one of his three favourite meals of the day.

He sat himself down between two guys and took an admiring look around the table, everyone in Anubis House was attractive, so it was fitting he had been placed there, he thought to himself.

"Would you like some OJ?" Asked a fellow American, a cute one "Finally, someone who speaks English, you're the best thing I've heard since I've gotten here." He said flirtatious, he just couldn't help himself. The boy next to him choked slightly on his food, when he recovered he asked "When did you get here? I got a shock when I woke up this morning and saw you in Mick's bed." Eddie was about to answer when.

"I can imagine." Ah,there she was. Yacker. Piping up again.

"Yesterday and I only had the privilege of meeting Yacker here." He wondered what her reaction would be if he... "Speaking of which who do we have here?" He asked to the table as a whole, but only the girls replied. Stating their names Amber, Joy and Mara, he couldn't help but notice Yacker hadn't offered up her real name. He'd have to try harder to get a reaction out of her. "Nobody told me English girls were so cute." He raised his eyebrows suggestively as they giggled at the compliment.

"Oh, please." A hot, blonde guy complained when he heard the girls reaction to him.

The boy at his other side made a move to show the blonde-Amber- was out of bounds, by handing her a croissant with a, "There you go dear." Amber didn't even look at him, she just kept on looking at Eddie.

"So what made you change schools Eddie?" Enquired the American girl, whose named had been revealed to be Nina.

"Let's see, got into some fights, flunked my classes and the Principal hated me cause I said his daughter was cute, which she totally was." He let out a chuckle thinking of his time spent with her and for how much more than call her "cute" he had done.

The chuckle grated on the red head, "Couldn't you have done us all a favour and gone to another school in the states?" 

"Patricia!" Yelled a gobsmacked Joy at her friends impolite remark.

So, Yacker's name was Patricia, huh! Not what he had been expecting.

Eddie brushed it off with a "Sure knows how to make a guy feel welcome." Ah,well, there were plenty of other fishes in the sea. Like, Nina for instance, who he gave an unabashed eyebrow raise to as she stood to leave the table. Eddie stuffed his mouth full of food and made to exit the house when Victor stepped in front of him blocking his path.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter from Eddie then it will switch to Patricia for a little while. Thanks to anybody still reading.


	5. Chapter 5

Victor blocked Eddie from the door while Patricia stood watching eagerly. Eddie _had_ to play it cool.

"Ah, Edison Miller hello, I trust you slept well." Victor enquired.

Through his breakfast Eddie choked out a "Like a log and my friends call me Eddie." He could see Patricia over Victor's shoulder, becoming more and more intrigued by the situation.

Victor snapped, "Don't speak to me with your mouth full, show some respect." Patricia was grinning and her eyes were shining watching the scene. Man, she really did not like him, guess he'd just have to be cooler than he already was and what would show that? Ah, yes a cocky retort.

"You can stick with Edison." This sarcastic comment brought all the other Anubis residents into the hall, who then gathered around Patricia to also enjoy the scene, it must not be very often that they got to see someone go toe to toe with Victor.

Victor became visibly more angry as the seconds passed by. "You were out til after 10 o'clock last night, please explain."

Eddie had been out at a party but he knew he had a "get out of jail free" card in his dad who Victor knew about and decided that was the way to get out of trouble, "Well, Victor, I was out with my..." he trailed off, he was about to say dad but did not want the others to discover his secret relation to the school's head teacher, so said instead, "relatives, didn't think I needed permission." he finished smugly.

"Well you do. In future please get it, you will find your stay here is a lot more pleasant if you observe a few basic rules." Eddie lifted his eyebrows showing how little he cared.

Victor turned to the crowd, "run along, nothing to see here." No one budged, so Victor shoved through them.

All eyes were on Eddie so he put on a brave face and sauntered passed them.

On the walk over to school he got to know his fellow male housemates, Fabian, Alfie and Jerome. All of whom seemed shocked by his interaction with Victor but the blonde, Jerome, made it known that he was impressed too. Jerome was an attractive guy and seemed to be a trouble maker aswell, which was also Eddie's type. Anubis house had a lot of potential for Eddie in the flirting g department at least, even if they were living under the thumb of a tyrant.

Eddie looked back to where the group of girls were trailing behind them, all of them seemed to be whispering and throwing glances at Eddie, then looking away quickly. All but Patricia of course, who kept her eyes to herself seemingly uninterested in the conversations topic. What was with her? Why hadn't he impressed her like he had the others?

...................

"Why does he keep looking back here?" Patricia thought to herself as she made her way to school with her friends. They were all talking about the new boy Eddie who had joined them for breakfast this morning but that she'd already had the misfortune of encountering twice yesterday.

Amber was talking about how there was _finally_ another cool person at school, Nina was glad there was another american, Joy said she thought he was cute, the others all jumped to agree, but not Patricia.

I mean she knew he was good looking and she'd liked his fashion sense from what she'd seen, but what she did not however understand was why she both seemed to like and dislike Eddie's personality in equal measure. He was quick witted, insulting and not afraid of speaking up- even to Victor. Which were all traits that Patricia admired. Yet, Patricia was irked by the way he acted yesterday and especially by how he had showed off at the breakfast table, flirting with anyone who had a pulse. The boy was desperate for attention and she was damned if she'd be the one to give it to him.

He was looking back _again_ , probably trying to figure out who to make a move on, it was probably going to be Nina or Amber, but that would not go well for him, not with Fabian and Alfie already in the picture.

The other girls were still talking about him wondering if he had a girlfriend back in the States and with what crowd he would fall into here. Patricia just picked at her nail polish feigning disinterest in the topic.

She took a quick glance up and caught Eddie's eye, huffed out a breath and trained her eyes on the ground in front of her. Nope, he wasn't getting _her_ attention

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Should I follow both Eddie and Patricia like I did here, or just Eddie as I had been doing?


	6. Chapter 6

Eddie made his way into the common room and looked around at the decor, as it turned out today was "Donkey Day", whatever the hell that was. The Brits were weird.

"Hey, New boy can I put your name down for a Donkey Day challenge? Jerome enquired as this whole day was his idea.

"Well, what about you? I see you hassling everyone else but not doing a lot yourself." Eddie teased.

"He has a point Jerome" Alfie added retrieving a betrayed look from Jerome, who said "Whose side are you on?"

This could be fun, Eddie thought to himself, he was going to find out what this boy was made of, " I'll agree to do a Donkey Day challenge if you do." Eddie informed Jerome.

"Ok." Jerome answered hesitantly.

Eddie was going to put this boy through his paces. "Excellent, I get to pick the challenge." He informed him smugly.

Jerome's face fell as he realised he was losing control of the situation, "Hang on."

Eddie cut him off with his suggestion, "Donkey Diner" , he chuckled, " if you can eat three gallons of creamed carrots I will personally sponsor you $100." At the sound of money being added to the equation Jerome's expression immediately changed.

Jerome stuttered out an impressed, "$100?"

Eddie could tell that Jerome was already going to agree to the amount, but Eddie wanted to impress the other lad so he upped it. "150 then, deal?" 

Jerome responded quicker than Eddie had previously thought humanly possible. "Done." They shook hands agreeing to the terms of the deal.

Eddie took the time to pat Jerome on the arm as he left him to mull over their wager.

"Who is that guy?" Alfie asked impressed that someone may be able to out scheme Jerome.

Patricia's voice came from further in the room, "Hey Jerome, I still don't have a partner for Wonky Donkey yet."

A mischievous smirk had come over Jerome's features. " Yes you have... it's Eddie." 

Eddie and Patricia both stopped in their tracks utterly shocked.

"Him?" Patricia spat out in disgust.

"Me?" Eddie questioned taking his attention from his phone and focusing it on Jerome, knowing full well why he had decided to partner him up with Yacker. It was his way of getting revenge for having to do Donkey Diner.

"You'll bond, see Donkey Day is already bringing people together." Jerome laughed at his own plot to get back at Eddie.

Eddie turned to Patricia to see her reaction, she just glared at him, seemed about right.

Eddie in all honesty didn't truly mind the fact that he was partnered with Patricia, it gave him the opportunity to suss her out. Even if it did seem like it would be a challenge.

They came together to tie their legs to one another's in preparation for the challenge. Eddie had just finished tying the knot when Patricia started complaining, " This is going to be one very long day."

"If you don't speak, it'll go a lot quicker for me." He replied to her glare. Maybe she was right and it was going to be a long day but maybe Jerome was right about it bringing them together. Only time could tell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate this chapter as its basically just a recap but I needed it for the next chapter so...


	7. Chapter 7

Eddie and Patricia had been tied by the ankle for an entire five minutes and they were already changing between squabbling and ignoring one another every other second. Right now it was ignoring one another, so Eddie took the moments silence to pester Jerome, “Ready to get creamed Jerry?”

Who in return acted as if he wasn’t worried about his upcoming challenge, “Absolutely, last thing this afternoon, when we have sourced every bit of carrot in the neighbourhood.” He looked pale at the very thought.

At this moment Alfie and Amber, who were also competing in Wonky Donkey had to return back to Anubis House for the raffle prizes Amber had mistakenly left behind, they stood up and went opposite directions causing their band to snap against their legs, “Ow, Alfie.” Amber said as the others in the group laughed.

Jerome, Patricia and Eddie were beside themselves with laughter, but after seeing Eddie laughing, Patricia swiftly cleared her facial expression and said, “I don’t see why you’re so amused we haven’t even tried walking yet.”

“The lady don’t lie. Shall we?” He stood up and as Patricia was standing to join him he tripped her up.

She fell back to the couch with a “Hey!” As Eddie and Jerome laughed themselves silly, she also had a small smile on her face, clearly amused by the boy’s actions, “Cut it out.” She added to try and seem like she was more annoyed with the prank then she actually was, maybe she would have been more convincing if she had wiped the smile and the blush from her face.

Eddie saw the slight smile and realised that she was able to take a joke and that they may actually have fun during this challenge. Eddie offered her his hand to help pull her up saying “Okay, okay.” Like he wasn’t planing anymore stunts today, but knowing full well that he was.

They started to walk out of the room, Patricia crossing her arms with attitude and throwing a glare his way, which he just laughed off with a flirtatious eyebrow raise.

They stumbled through the hall purposefully pulling one another over to their side, trying to make the other lose balance, while they made their way over to the raffle table that Joy was manning.

They were having a look at the items on the table when Mr Sweet arrived to have a conversation with Joy about putting on a school event.

Patricia couldn’t help but be nosy and keep an ear to their conversation and jumped at the chance at getting in a sly dig at Eddie when Mr Sweet said his friend had suggested a masked ball. She acted excited and upbeat as she turned to Eddie “A masked ball. Count me in. A whole night I don’t have to look at your face.” Eddie let out a fake chuckle in return as Mr Sweet gave Patricia a disapproving look, he mustn’t like her mocking the new boy she thought, but that wasn’t going to stop her.

Joy had set up a piñata and offered the couple a pair of blindfolds and sticks to use, they looked at one another and shrugged deciding that they might as well participate. Patricia made it seem like it was a giant ordeal though. Joy was watching them with interest as she could tell that her best friends annoyance with the boy was faked, for the most part at least.

She had never seen Patricia act like this around a boy before and couldn’t stop watching their interactions. Joy was usually good at sensing when people were interested in one another, (unless of course it involved Fabian) and could recognise the growing attraction between the pair.

She watched eagerly as they donned their blindfolds and started whaccking the piñata, and as it turns out their team work wasn’t as bad as they had been expecting as the piñata broke apart and the sweets fell to the ground. They took off their blindfolds and Eddie took the opportunity to flex his muscles at Patricia saying “Yeah, feel the guns.” To which Patricia’s look conveyed a “Yeah right, as if your scrawny ass was the one who did it” but he just smiled excitedly as he bent to get the candy.

They had been tied together for hours now exchanging banter, prodding each other in the side and out and out trying to trip one another up but they decided it was time to untie and go their separate ways before Jerome made his speech on the stage. They had had fun though even if neither of them would dare admit it to the other.

Everyone had gathered back in the common room to hear the results from the day or in most of the students cases to see Jerome gorge himself on creamed carrot. He had already revealed the total they had raised for the donkey charity and announced the winners of several donkey themed challenges, all that was left was the result of the Wonky Donkey, “And the winners of Wonky Donkey are Eddie and Patricia with six hours and thirty minutes.” The room applauded.

The winners made their way to the stage, but only Eddie went on it, to make his brief yet still sarcastic speech, “Thank you Jerry. I’d also like to thank the academy.” He took his prize from Jerome and left the stage walking right past Patricia.

Patricia was annoyed at him walking past without even acknowledging her or offering to split the prize, even if it was a mere box of chocolates. “Ah! Excuse me, that’s one award we can share.”

This stopped Eddie in his tracks and he turned to her with a teasing, “Yeah, well I pulled most of the weight,” he stopped to look her up and down, “especially yours.” He said enjoying the banter, this was his way of flirting after all.

Patricia did not seem to understand that and instead took the comment to heart. She was insulted and so she decided to insult him right back, “Yeah, well you need to think about using a stronger deodorant, because there’s no easy way of saying this” at this Eddie’s face fell as he could tell that she wasn’t just joking around with him anymore, not with her looking him up and down with such disdain, “You stink.” She spat out, proud of herself for giving him a taste of his own medicine, and from his face he hadn’t enjoyed it. Good.

Eddie’s mood had completely flipped and now he was out to hurt too, “Yeah, well if you get up in my face again at least take a mint.” He stormed off through the crowd. They had seemed to be getting on so well earlier and now it had all fallen apart. They both had ended up hurt, embarrassed and parting on bad terms and the day wasn’t even over yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Please check out my other Peddie fic “A Bad Break Up.”


	8. Chapter 8

After a few mopey minutes thinking about how his interactions with Patricia had gone so wrong in so little time. Eddie decided to shake it off and move on to happier thoughts, the thought of watching Jerry force feed himself tonnes of creamed carrot for instance.

Patricia was still mad about her earlier spat with Eddie, so decided to get back at him by taking Jerome’s side in the bet, so she positioned herself next to Jerome to cheer him on. He had quite the crowd gathered to watch him, including Eddie, who was rolling his shoulders and raising his eyebrows in anticipation, as well as several other students that were there solely to see the self proclaimed “King Clarke” make a fool of himself.

Jerome began eating the first bucket of creamed carrot to cheers and applause, Patricia could see Eddie filming it on his phone, whilst making gagging faces to try and discourage Jerome. It bothered her when she realised that she had spent more time watching _Eddie_ watch Jerome then watching Jerome herself. She didn’t like that she was so focused on him, so turned her attention back to Jerome and cheered him on even louder than before.

After two full buckets Jerome was clearly struggling now and Alfie couldn’t take much more, so tried to throw the towel in for his best friend. “Ain’t no gong till it’s all gone.” Eddie said preemptively, assuming Jerome was about to fail, but Jerome ever the hard worker when money was involved, let out a chuckle and showed the empty bucket to the watching crowd. Eddie had been beaten.

Eddie magnanimous in defeat made his way on stage to deliver Jerome’s winnings, “Well that was... really dumb.” for some reason that brought a smile to Patricia’s face, “But you did it, good job Carrot Boy”, they shook hands, “and that is for you... double or nothing?” Eddie wagered with the money outstretched, hoping to taunt the other boy into another round but Jerome had had enough and scrambled for the money, losing his dignity in the process much to Eddie’s delight.

After Donkey Diner took place and Jerome had gone home feeling sick as a dog, it was time for the clean up and as it turned out it was down to Amber, Eddie and Patricia to clean up the common room. Patricia had not be thrilled with being lumbered with Eddie for the second time that day, it was as if there was no escape from him. She was still seething from his earlier comment, so had very little patience when she realised that unlike her and Amber, Eddie had not lifted a finger to help clean, he was in fact on his phone watching videos and laughing like a moron. It grated on Patricia and she couldn’t let it go unsaid, “I hope the sight of us working hard isn’t disturbing your little rest.”

Eddie glanced up from his phone, “You’re a couple of strong 21st century women, why do you need my help?” He replied obnoxiously.

“I’ve broken a nail.” Amber moaned.

“Go sisterhood!” Eddie cheered, receiving a glare from Amber, “fine, fine” he begrudgingly got up, huffing and muttering under his breath. He took a bucket from one table to another and immediately got a stain on Patricia’s sleeve.

Patricia looked down at the mark on her shirt in disbelief, how could this boy be a pain in every way possible? She thought to herself. Well, two can play this game. “Nice move doofus.” 

Eddie turned at the insult to be immediately smacked in the chest with a dollop of carrot that Patricia had thrown in retaliation, “Mine was an accident.” He remarked.

“So was that.” She said fooling no one.

Everyone in the room could see where this was heading, when Eddie took in a breath readying himself for war, Amber took it as her opportunity to leave before she got stuck in the middle of the inevitable. “Wait, wait, wait, wait.” She said cautiously, arms up in surrender, as she made her way off the stage, “I’m clear!”, she yelled from the door, the second the words left her mouth the other two began throwing.

It was a full on food fight between the pair as they giggled and let out little yells as they where hit in the face with the leftover creamed carrot. They were both having fun with each other and in that moment their earlier squabbles had been forgotten. Patricia saw an opening while Eddie was reloading his ammo, and tipped an entire bucketful over his head. He turned to her, carrot dripping from his hair and running down his face, and gave her an admiring smile, impressed by her gall, then shook himself like a dog, coating her in another layer of food. They broke apart laughing, when they heard a voice from across the room.

“My office, now!” Yelled an irate Mr Sweet, the two trailed behind him, he took a seat and turned to the teens that stood at the end of his desk, with a disapproving look. He couldn’t believe that it was his son’s first full day here and he’d already had to bring him to the office for misbehaviour. “I hope you have a good explanation for this.”

“Results kind of speak for themselves, don’t they?”

“Are you trying to be clever?” Mr Sweet replied, surprised by his sons attitude towards him, he knew that Eddie had a reputation for getting into mischief, and that he wasn’t his son’s favourite person, but he didn’t think he would show him such disrespect, especially not in front of another student.

“Would it upset you too much if I said yes?” Eddie saw Patricia turn to him with an open mouth and a shocked expression, she let out a small appreciative giggle at his attitude, this only egged Eddie on more, he was trying to impress her with each new remark he threw, even if they were disrespectful to his dad, why should he care? He owed the man nothing. In fact, if his rude answers could impress a cute girl _and_ offend his absentee father, well, it was a win win as far as he was concerned.

Mr Sweet tried to regain his authority in the situation by giving them a punishment, “Right, you will both help Joy and Fabian arrange the ball.” It wasn’t a harsh one, solely for one reason. He didn’t want to alienate his son from him any further than he already had.

“That’s so unf... actually that’s pretty fair.” Patricia caught herself as she’d been about to complain about an unjust reaction to a food fight. 

Confused about the lack of severity of their punishment, she shared a look with Eddie, and was it her imagination or was he admiring her? And did he just look to the ground to avoid her eyes?

“Now go and clean yourselves up and try not to drip too much on the way out.” Sweet ordered.

“Can’t believe we got away with that.” She whispered to the boy, as they were making their way out of the office, he chuckled in response, feeling camaraderie with her, “it’s like old Sweetie has no spine at all. Sad.” She finished, making Eddie lose his smirk and feel slight guilt over the perception of his father that he had helped create.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, I’ll try and update quicker next time. Please leave a comment or kudos.


	9. Chapter 9

It was the day after Donkey Day and Eddie had spent the last 10 minutesintroducing himself to a girl from his class. Well, he had taken one minute to introduce himself and the other nine to flirt with her. He’d made her laugh several times, that was always a good sign. She definitely had a thing for him. Now that he knew this he walked away, leaving her wanting more, this was his go to move, make someone interested and then play it cool for a while, he’d catch back up with Laura in a day or two after she’d been thinking about him and ask her out. There was no way that she’d turn him down, he never got turned down.

Eddie left the girl by the lockers and made his way into the common room via the back entrance and stopped when he heard voices from behind the stage curtain, it was Joy talking about Fabian writing her a poem, this didn’t interest Eddie and he was about to leave until he realised that she was talking to Yacker. Who didn’t seem to find the topic interesting either and was trying to persuade her friend that the poem was not intended for her, but to no avail.

Eddie started to walk away when he heard mention of his name, “Although it’s great that Sweetie asked you and Eddie to help us out with the gala,” She did not sound convincing, clearly she just wanted it to be her and Fabian, “I need you to chaperone him.” Joy said. As if Eddie needed a babysitter, he was perfectly capable of behaving, he thought to himself, well, if he _wanted_ to that was. Although, the upcoming ball did seem like a good opportunity for a prank, ok... _maybe_ he did need a chaperone after all.

Patricia sighed, “Yeah, because I just love spending time with him.”

Joy grinning, “Ah, good! Glad to see you admit it for once.” Wait...if Joy was teasing Yacker about him, did that mean that she liked him? Had she _told_ Joy that she liked him? Or did Joy just guess as she was Patricia’s best friend, and who knows a girl better than her best friend? Or maybe it was just a joke and Eddie was overthinking it. But why was he overthinking it though? There were plenty of other girls at this school, like Laura for instance. He shouldn’t be focusing on just one.

“Ok, so I was thinking you and Eddie help organise the band.” Music, he could do that.

Patricia perked up when she realised the topic had changed to something she enjoyed, “Yeah, sure I actually have some really great... ideas.” the girl ended hesitantly.

“Just a list I downloaded. Sweetie wants a classical quintet. You know violins and all that.” Of course his dad wanted that boring old music, his father was nothing if not dull.

“But I was actually thinking we could go with something, you know edgier, maybe something punk.” Punk? Patricia liked punk? That was an added bonus to her character.

“Here’s a list approved by Sweetie, it’s in order of preference so if you just work your way through the numbers until someone says yes that’d be amazing. Thank you” he heard Joy get up and leave .

Now that the other girl had gone, Eddie decided he’d take the opportunity to talk to Yacker while she was alone. “I agree with you for what it’s worth.”

“How long have _you_ been there?” Patricia asked, turning to see Eddie appear from the stage and make his way over to her.

“Ah, long enough and I’m hurt you don’t like spending time with me.” He said putting his hand to his chest, pretending to be heartbroken over her earlier comment, he then smiled and took a seat on the arm of the couch.

Not thinking that her and Eddie would have any form of common ground, Patricia asked him, “Whatcha mean you agree with me?”

“Well, I like good music just like you do. And I hate events like this. Just filled with old people yacking on and on about antiques and history.” Eddie said making disgusted faces and finishing it off with a dramatic bite of his apple. 

Patricia had found herself watching the boy with a smile plastered to her face, but when he turned to see her reaction, she abruptly stopped smiling and put her defences back up, there was no way she was going to go gooey over a boy, especially not _Eddie_. “Yeah, well, no one actually even asked your opinion anyway so...” he pulled a face at her as she grabbed her bag to leave, she couldn’t be around him much longer it made her act strangely and she didn’t like it.

Eddie, muttered a sarcastic, “Bye.” under his breath, he felt disappointed to see her go, he’d been hoping he’d have had more of a chance to tease her. That’s when he noticed the printed off list of quintets that Joy had mentioned earlier. Maybe he still had an opportunity to mess with her after all. “Sweetie did order me to help,” he looked up some bands on his phone, just not the ones his dad would be hoping for, “oh, very good ... good and loud.” he gave a mischievous chuckle as his plan for the ball formed in his head.

...........

When the next day came Eddie found himself lying on the couch of the common room, thinking of his scheme while the others were making preparations for the upcoming event.

“I’m glad my quintet won’t need speakers.” He heard Patricia say to Mara as they went to pass by, Eddie let out a small snicker.

“Something funny?” Patricia paused to ask the boy.

“Your face, funny face.” He retorted to receive her patented glare. Mara was smiling at her friend’s interaction with him. And from the look on Mara’s face that was now _two_ of Patricia’s close friends that believed there was some sort of connection between him and her and they couldn’t _both_ be wrong, could they?

.........

Most of the Anubis residents were already sat round the table ready for their meal, when Eddie came in and Nina visibly jumped at the chance to talk to him, she had been watching Fabian talk to Joy for the last ten minutes and it had made her uncomfortable, so she believed that flirting with Eddie may make Fabian notice her. So invited the new boy over. “You can sit here if you like.”

“I like. Winning you over, aren’t I?” Eddie was oblivious to the reasoning behind her offer and just naturally assumed that his charisma had worked on her.

Patricia saw that Eddie was spending time with Nina instead of her, and was disappointed not to be the focus of his attention. She thought about Eddie messily eating an apple earlier that day, “You know he eats with his mouth open?” She informed Nina, hoping to nip that relationship in the bud before it even started.

Fabian jumped in with a, “Yeah and he burps”, also trying to put Nina off Eddie, but that was an act of jealousy and it couldn’t be _jealousy_ that Patricia was feeling could it? 

Eddie turned to them, “Sometimes, there’s so much love in this house, I feel like I’m gonna burst.” Patricia glared as his attention turned from her and back to Nina, as he gave her a flirty look and wrapped his arm around the back of her chair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.


	10. Chapter 10

It was the day of the Egypt exhibition and masquerade ball and somehow Eddie and Patricia had ended up paired together _again_. They were lugging a large chair out of the way so that the room could be used for dancing later and Eddie was already contemplating whether he should ask her to dance or not. On one hand, he wanted to. On the other, he didn’t actually know if she’d say yes and he wasn’t used to that feeling. People did not reject Eddie Miller.

Joy approached them, “Right, I need someone tall to hang things up and someone whose a girl to make sure it doesn’t look terrible.” She said pointing to them in turn. Rude, Eddie was a man of taste.

They left the room to go set up the curtains, Patricia throwing a bag of balloons at Eddie’s chest, “You should be on balloon duty, it might keep your mouth shut.”

Eddie mockingly repeated her from behind as they made their way over to the step ladder, and even though it was supposed to be him to hang them and her to judge them, Patricia climbed up the ladder before Eddie had the chance. It was just like her to be so contrary but it was fine with Eddie, he could have just as much fun watching her from down here, more in fact.

Eddie was half assed keeping the ladder steady for her while interspersing that with the odd mild shake to mess with her, “How does it feel to have your life in my hands?” He taunted.

“I’d feel safer on the deck of the Titanic.” She replied, then fell into his arms. It had not been his intention to actually make her fall, though he could not say he was upset with the result. That being him having her in his arms and looking deep into her eyes, “I knew you’d fall for me” he joked as sparks flew between them until he started to feel a slight bit of panic, he did not know why this girl was capable of having such an effect on him .

He was brought out of the moment by Yacker’s, “Get off me slimeball.”

He had to play it cool, “Sure thing”, he said as he dropped her to the floor and wiped his hands, like he was getting rid of a huge mess. 

Patricia popped back up with a, “Hey.” and they were about to go for another round of name calling, when Joy appeared ruining the moment, “Perfect.”, she said appraising their work. 

“Why are we hanging curtains when there’s a perfectly good door?” He pointed out, ever the fan of not having work made for him.

Joy looked at him like he was an imbecile, “It’s for dramatic entrances.” She said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Eddie watched as Joy went over to Fabian and started flirting, when she was interrupted by Nina and Amber who literally had the boy in a middle of a tug of war so they could take him to play hopscotch. Wait, what? “Dude, you play hopscotch?“

“I guess so.”, he answered tentatively as he was dragged behind the curtain, Eddie laughed, “What a chump.”

Patricia took the opportunity to remind him that he was stood here, while Fabian was off with two attractive girls, “He’s got two girls desperate to hang out with him,” she looked him up and down with distaste, “Who’s the chump?” She asked before walking away.

Eddie mocked her, “Who’s the chump?” he scoffed. He’d have her know, he’d had plenty of girls and guys for that matter vying for his attention before. 

...........

All the students had gathered in the library that night for the Treasures of Egypt Exhibition, and Patricia was already bored and had taken herself over to the balcony where she stood rubbing her wrist.

Eddie approached her, “Problem Yackball?”

“You hurt my hand when you dropped me, Neanderthal.” 

Eddie made a sad face and said “Well, you hurt my feelings.” Although, it turns out he did actually feel bad about her sore wrist, “Here may I?” He enquired, as he went to take her hand.

“No, you may not.”, She whipped her hand away but he looked into her eyes and took it anyway.

He massaged her hand gently and could tell that the intimate touch was getting to the girl, “Better?” He asked.

She conceded, “A little bit.” as she turned and walked away from the boy.

“Yeah. “ He said as he watched her walk away, thinking of how he may just have a chance of her saying yes to a dance after all.

..........

The partygoers had relocated from the exhibit at the library, after watching what turned out to be quite an entertaining bake off, and came to the school. Which they had spent the day setting up and it looked great.

Eddie was looking around at the decorations and felt a disproportionate amount of pride for the actual amount of work he’d done, (which was holding a ladder that someone had in fact, fell off.)

He was distracted from the setting. By girls in pretty dresses and boys in fancy suits walking by, he was taking cheeky glances at their butts hoping his mask would hide where his eyes were looking. When he got engrossed by Patricia walking by and chose to trail behind her instead. And that’s when the band started to play and he had to see her reaction to his scheme.

As Patricia went to walk past the curtain, she heard a cacophony when she should be hearing a symphony. She popped her head through the curtain to see? To her confusion. A heavy metal band. Mr sweet was not going to like that.

Eddie popped his head through the curtain joining her, “Rock on.” He said bopping his head to the beat.

“What happened? I booked a quintet.” Patricia asked bewildered.

“I count five. That’s a quintet right?”

“But they’re supposed to be classical.” She complained.

“This  is  a classic.” He added wondering how long it would take her to realise this was all his doing.

“You.” Turned out it didn’t take long after all, but by the tone of her voice, she did not find the prank as entertaining as he did. Eddie panicked and pulled his head back through curtain.

“You did this.” She said stepping up to the boy, about to go full Patricia on him.

Eddie faked being offended by scoffing “Yeah? I see cos I’m a rebel, they wear black. You just assume all us rejects know each other.” He said loving to mess with her.

Patricia felt guilty and began to apologise “Sorry, I didn’t mean to...”

He felt bad that _she_ felt bad and decided to stop toying with her and come clean, hoping that her response wouldn’t be too harsh. “Don’t worry about it. Besides, you’re right. It was me.”

“Ugh, pig.” She walked away from him, and although he didn’t know her very well, _yet_ ,  he believed that she wasn’t actually that mad at him after all. He smiled to himself, preferring when she was calling him names to when she was trying to apologise to him.

.......

Ten minutes later the band were still playing and Eddie was rocking out, enjoying the result of his meddling. While Patricia tried her best to blend into the background, as Victor had just entered the room and she could see that he was about to burst a blood vessel in anger. He made his way over to the band, who abruptly stopped. Turns out even grown adults who never went to Amun Academy are afraid to get on Victor’s bad side.

Victor emerged from behind the curtain and pointed one finger menacingly at Patricia, uttering an accusatory. “You.”

Eddie watched with intrigue as she walked over to Victor and tried to explain. “It was a mix up. I didn’t know they were going to be a thrash metal band.” She was going to dob him in, he’d done nothing but aggravate her since he got here and now he’d gotten her into trouble during an important school function. She owed him nothing. Why did he always prank first and only think of the repercussions when they were actually happening?

“They are called Horns of Metal!” He exploded at the girl, as Victor turned to look at the band, Patricia threw Eddie a panicked look that managed to somehow convey, “What do I do?”, “This is your fault.” And “You’re a dead man.” All at once.

He didn’t have any answers so replied with a shrug hoping it wouldn’t look callous, he just didn’t have an out for this situation.

“I thought it meant horns.” she explained while mimicking a trombone movement. “They’re a quintet.” she added, like it had all been an innocent mistake. _Her_ mistake. She still hadnt told on him.

“I do not care how you remedy this but remedy it you shall, otherwise this marks the end of your night.” He threatened, before marching off.

Eddie was slightly shocked that she’d had his back and _completely_ in awe of her “You didn’t rat me out Yacker.” He was confused. He’d have ratted him out, if he were her.

“I don’t “rat” people out.” She explained to him, “And you’re going to help me fix this.” 

“You can’t fix this, take it from a guy who ruins stuff.” And he did, all the time, whether it was familial relationships, frienships, romances or academics. Eddie had a habit of destroying the things he touched.

“You wanna bet?” She went behind the curtain, Eddie wanting to see what she was planning followed, he did not expect the words that were coming out of her mouth and he didn’t think she knew what she was talking about either, “Metal dudes. I know you’re like brotherhood and all but I was thinking, might be hardcore if you shredded some sick classical tunes.” 

The band all began to talk in unison, they must have thought she was trying to mock them, one guy’s offended voice rose above the others, “Are you joking?”

“What are you doing?” He asked bewildered by her tactic.

“What? I’m talking metal do you mind?” 

“Just because you listen to the music, doesn’t mean you know the life just ... “ he trailed off as he went to play the hero, ignoring the fact that this was a crime of his own making. But he was determined to make it up to Yacker and so walked over to the band and in hushed tones asked the musicians a favour. “Guys please, I screwed up with that girl and I really need to make it up to her, so if you know any classical music, I’m begging you to play it.“ As it turns out the rockers were romantics and agreed to play classical music for the rest of the evening. They even went as far as wishing him, “ Good luck with his girl.” He has a feeling he’d need it.

...........

Eddie made his way from the stage and over to Patricia, who was impressed that the band had changed up their style “Inside every metal head is a nice boy” he informed her, “see what I told you about judging a book by its cover,” he added trying to take away some of his discomfort at the moment.

“Is this your way of saying sorry?” Patricia asked in a soft voice, that got to Eddie.

But he never apologised or admitted he was wrong, so couldn’t say the words, but helping with the music had to be the next best thing. He was hoping that actions Would speak louder than word with her. “As a ways go, how’d I do?” Keen to see if he’d managed to win her forgiveness over nearly getting her kicked out of the dance.

Patricia sucked her teeth as she pretended to mull it over, “Awful... but apology accepted.” She said as she walked away, leaving Eddie more into her than he’d ever intended to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.


	11. Chapter 11

Eddie couldn’t keep his distance from Patricia, he was constantly drawn to her. They may not have came to this ball together, but they might as well have, with the amount of time they’d spent together tonight.

Eddie had loaded up his plate at the buffet and made his way back over to her, “Freak.” He called her by way of greeting.

“Weirdo.” She returned.

He watched the other students on the dance floor and noticed Patricia was doing the same, maybe this was his opportunity to subtly determine whether or not she would agree to a dance, “Are you just gonna stare at them? There’s a name for that you know.” He joked, trying to learn where she stood on the idea of dancing.

“Why aren’t you dancing? Waiting for the right _girl_ to ask?”

“Waiting for the right pig to fly. What’s your excuse?” Maybe, like she’d thought he had been waiting for the right girl to ask, she had been waiting for the right _guy_ to ask _her_. And maybe _he_ was that guy. Her answer didn’t suggest that though.

“If you knew me, you’d know I don’t dance.” Eddie pulled a disbelieving face, “ever, on any occasion, under any circumstances, including if my life depended on it.” She said with a hint of pride, while helping herself to Eddie’s plate. And Eddie allowed her to take it. Which was odd, as taking food away from him was usually deemed an act of treason in Eddie’s book.

“Well, no-one’s asked you, have they?” He raised his eyebrows, daring her to deny it.

“Everyone in here knows, that if they did, they’d be crushed, like a tin can under a tank.” He didn’t doubt her, she was very intimidating, even he hadn’t built up the courage to ask her yet.

“I’m gonna take that as an, ‘I’ll think about it.’” He said cockily, as he swaggered off.

She watched him leave, he seemed to believe he was the dog’s bollocks and that he could get anything he wanted, but there was _no_ chance of her agreeing to dance with him.

...... 

Eddie had made his way back to the buffet table for a second attempt to eat, since Patricia had purloined his plate earlier. Thinking of Patricia, he turned to see her across the room, she was looking back at him with a smile. This may be the opportunity to ask her to dance that he’d been waiting for. Sure, he didn’t usually care for dancing, but she made him do and feel a lot of things that were out of the ordinary for him.

He went to look at her again, but Jerome blocked his view, he looked to see what Eddie had been eyeing, a teasing smile came onto his face. “Does someone have a little bitty crush? You have been hanging around her rather a lot lately.” 

Eddie’s instinct to deny ever being the more interested party in a relationship kicked in, “Her hanging around with me Jerry, her hanging around with me.”

Alfie, having known Patricia the majority of his life could not see her being the one to chase anybody. “No way, she hates you man. I’m willing to bet there is no way you can get Militia Patricia to dance with you.” 

“What are we in kindergarten now?” Eddie asked, trying to imply that this was all immature, he usually liked a bet but he didn’t really want to take part in one where Patricia was an unknowing participant.

But when he saw Alfie and Jerome share a fist bump that insinuated that he was too much of a chicken to ask her, Eddie’s inability to not be top dog reared it’s ugly head, and he had to prove them wrong, “Okay, okay you’re asking for it. What are the terms?” He asked, hoping they wouldn’t be too humiliating towards Patricia.

“If you win, Jerome will sing she’ll be coming round the mountain....on stage” Alfie decided, then to increase his friend’s embarrassment should he lose added, “...in the style of a rap artist.”

Eddie liked the sound of that, Jerome however did not, “What?” He asked in a disgusted tone.

Alfie came up with the other side of the deal, before Jerome could lose interest. He knew the one thing that Jerome could not say not to. “But if you lose.” He said, turning to Eddie. “You have to give Jerome the rest of your money for the month.”

Jerome with the enthusiasm that only the prospect of money could bring out in him readily agreed, “Yeah that works.”

“Deal. What am I gonna spend it on around here anyway?” They shook hands to confirm the stakes.

...........

Eddie had been putting off asking Patricia to dance all night, afraid of a knock back, but the dare had spared him on. He donned his masquerade mask and tried to be as adorable as possible as he danced his way over to her.

“No.” Came her immediate response, though he could swear he could see a slight hint of a smile.

“Come on, I saw your head swinging.” He stated, as he moved his head from side to side with a dazzling smile, trying to weaken the girl’s resolve.

“No.” She said, with a little less conviction. He was wearing her down.

He stopped the goofy dancing and tried a different approach, “Hey, I’m just a tin can standing in front of a tank asking her to dance with me.”

Patricia gulped, hearing her own words said back to her. She couldn’t believe he’d actually been paying enough attention to quote her.

“Come on. I don’t dance either, it’ll just look alternative.” He could tell she wanted to, even though she still looked trepidatious. So, he gently took both her hands in his and led her forward, “Just gonna peel you off the wall here.”

She stepped forward warily and laid out the terms to him, “Okay. One dance. No more than a minute. No funny stuff. “, then felt it necessary to add, “And this still doesn’t make us friends, okay?” but at this point, it was more to convince herself than him.

Eddie smiled and bit his lip, “Okay.” He agreed as they started to dance.

He could see Jerome and Alfie watching as he span Patricia around. Alfie looked impressed, while Jerome looked furious. Eddie winked in their direction to signify his win, and with the hope that it would make them stop watching, so he could dance with the girl he liked in peace.

.... 

The song ended and he led her off the dance floor, “See? That didn’t hurt.”

“Yeah it did. You stepped on my toes like, four times.” She answered, though she was still smiling.

“I told you. I never dance.” And he didn’t, he never liked to give people the false idea that he was into them more than he actually was, or that a flirtation would ever lead to a real relationship.

“No, but sometimes, just sometimes, you know how to be a good guy.” Eddie smiled at the compliment, until he saw Alfie’s celebratory fist pump and was quickly reminded of the way the dance had came about.

Guilt set in and he had to get out of there. “Well, I’ve broken enough personal rules for one night, you know. I better leave or I’m gonna end up writing you a poem or something.” He gave a nervous chuckle.

She gave one in return, “Whatever, um, better go before you turn into a pumpkin.”

“Night Yacker.” He said softly, as he turned to leave. He didn’t feel as if he deserved to stay at the ball any longer and he definitely didn’t deserve his prize of seeing Jerome publicly humiliate himself.

.......

Eddie had spent the whole night thinking about Patricia. At first, it was with guilt for the reason he asked her to dance and then panic at the prospect of her finding out. But then it turned to delight that she’d taken a chance on him and agreed to do something out of her comfort zone because he’d asked her to.

He thought back to the fact that she hadn’t ratted him out to Victor, and the way she’d blushed at him last night and to how, when they were dancing, his heart had beat faster then he had known was possible.

He was looking forward to seeing her this morning, as he had the feeling that something had shifted between them last night and couldn’t wait to see where that would lead.

He was getting food from the kitchen when he saw her enter the dining area, she looked at him with a smile. This had been the first morning since he’d moved here, that her way of greeting him hadn’t been a scowl. This must mean she felt the same way about last night as he did.He winked at her causing her smile to get broader as she took her seat with the others. 

He made his way over to the table where Vera, their new house mother, was adding more breakfast dishes to the table, “What happened to you three last night?” She asked, referring to the trio of Fabian, Amber and Nina. “You disappeared into thin air.” 

Eddie had noticed that too, “ You guys do that a lot around here. Oh ,” he paused to get a little dig in at Fabian, “Where you sneaking off to play hopscotch?” Causing Jerome and Alfie to laugh.

Fabian, who was fed up of being made fun of, for things that most of the house didn’t understand, turned to his roommate, “Actually Eddie, the reason I’m _never_ in our room at night is because of the awful music you play and the volume you play it at.”

“Sick Puppies? Awful? Eddie’s the only one around here with any taste.” Hearing Patricia give a compliment, and to Eddie of all people caused silence to spread around the table. Fabian choked on his drink, Jerome dropped his food and every head at the table turned towards her in shock.

Eddie raised his eyebrows with a flirty look, appreciative of the girl’s praise and sensing that he had been right about the positive change in their dynamic. He was sure he had a chance with her now. That was, until Alfie, who seeing this exchange, turned to congratulate the boy, “Oh, you’re good.”

Eddie shot a look at Alfie, his face begging the other boy not to drop him in it, but it was too late.

“Good at what?” Patricia asked happily, until she noticed the expressions passing between Eddie and Alfie. “Good at what?” She demanded insistently, feeling like she was missing out on the joke.

Eddie was about to come clean and tell her everything. That he had agreed to a bet to ask her to dance, but how it hadn’t mattered, as he had been planning to ask her all night anyway and that all the bet did, was give him the push he needed to finally go for it. 

Jerome however had other ideas, “Eddie bet us he could get you to dance. I really thought you’d hold out longer.” He informed her with a cruel laugh.

She looked furious and he knew it wasn’t from Jerome’s mocking laughter, but from the betrayal she felt.

“Good at ruining things.” Eddie muttered under his breath, avoiding eye contact with her.

“Is that why you were singing she’ll be coming round the mountain?” Joy asked figuring out the terms of the bet.

“ _Murdering_ she’ll be coming round the mountain.” Alfie corrected.

Eddie kept his eyes low out of shame. “You cockroach.” Patricia scolded him.

Eddie had been waiting for her anger to show, but still felt sick at the name she’d called him, as he knew this time she actually meant it. He exhaled, closed his eyes and turned away. He had nothing he could say to make this situation better.

Patricia stood up, and the mood around the table changed, they were all wary of something but Eddie couldn’t tell what.

As Patricia made her way round to his side of the table, Jerome covered his face with a plate in defence, knowing that he was about to witness Patricia’s famous “Beverage Blitz”, a phrase he had coined when they were just children and Patricia had first taken to dumping drinks onto people who she felt had wronged her.

Fabian and Alfie, who where on either side of Eddie shuffled their chairs away. Eddie didn’t know what was happening, but his housemates responses didn’t bode well. Patricia leant over him and picked up a pitcher of milk, and that’s when it dawned on him what was about to happen. But feeling like he deserved it, he just closed his eyes and sat there, while she emptied the contents over his head, before leaving the room.

Eddie spat out the milk that had gotten into his mouth, making Nina have to clean herself off before telling him, “Yeah, she does that.” Nina seemed to be speaking from experience. And the fact that her and Patricia are friends now helped reassure Eddie that maybe there was still a chance of gaining her forgiveness after all.

Eddie turned to Mara, milk dripping down his face, “Mara, would you be a sweetheart and pass me the cereal.” She did, and she and the others watched in disgust as Eddie wiped a cornflake across his brow, before popping it in his mouth.

.........

Patricia felt like an idiot, she never let people close to her, she didn’t dance, she didn’t flirt and yet, she’d made an exception for Eddie, thinking that he was being genuine towards her, but it turned out he was just like everyone else and couldn’t be trusted. And worse than just making her feel like a fool, he’d conspired with Alfie and Jerome to do it. _Then_ he had the audacity to reveal it in front of the rest of the house. Well, he wouldn’t be making a fool out of her again.

Patricia took out her anger by slamming her locker shut, “They set up a website about news and gossip and stuff, so I put our names down.” Joy informed her as she came to join her.

“Here’s your first headline: New American Student Gets Punkd In The Most Humiliating Revenge Prank Ever.” She didn’t wait for a response, she just wanted to be alone to figure out a way to get back at Eddie for embarrassing her and breaking her trust.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and I’m sorry this chapter took so long I had ZERO motivation.
> 
> Check out my KT/Joy fic if you’re a fan of them.


	12. Chapter 12

Patricia and Joy were making their way through the hallway to their first class of the day, when Joy asked Patricia a question. “Did you get it?”

Joy was talking about what her best friend had decided to order, after many hours of discussion of how to get her revenge on Eddie.

“Just arrived this morning. Vers de farine le cacao enriche.” She read off the front of the box.

“All those words say chocolate covered worms?” Joy clarified.

“It’s like escargot, if they called them snails no one would order them.”

They entered their classroom and spotted Eddie on the back row, “There he is.” Joy said, as she parted from her best friend to allow her to go get her vengeance.

Patricia pasted on a fake smile and did her best portrayal of a person who regretted their actions, even if she believed that Eddie had only just begun to get what he deserved.

“Oh, look it’s the milkmaid.” He greeted her, alluding to yesterday morning’s second, very public shower of milk.

“Look, I wanted to say sorry. It was maybe an overreaction.” She apologised to him. As part of her act, she had to make him believe that she was sorry and that this wasn’t just another phase in her revenge plot.

“No.” Eddie replied sarcastically.

God, he was infuriating. “Would you let me apologise? Why do you have to make things so hard all the time?” She complained, not being able to keep the act up when faced with his arrogance.

“Am I the first guy to keep you on your toes?” He asked jokingly, but seeing her face fall and with her not _immediately_ responding with a vicious comeback, he realised he may be onto something “I am ... aren’t I?” He chuckled, looking her up and down.

Patricia was embarrassed about how spot on he was about him being the only person to actually get to her, which made her remember that he deserved pay back, “I got you something as a truce. It’s just chocolate, but it’s fancy chocolate.”

Eddie took the box from her apprehensively, “Wow, almost like a real girl just now.” Patricia screwed up her face in response.

Eddie, who was fluent in French read the cover of the box of chocolates and knew exactly what she was up to, but decided he owed her an apology anyway, “Thanks. I’m sorry about the whole bet thing. You know I was gonna ask you anyway. “ he said sincerely, thinking back to how many times he had approached her with the intent to ask but had chickened out.

Patricia, despite her best instincts believed Eddie’s apology to be genuine. Maybe the milk was enough. He did seem sorry and it might be time to call a truce. But she didn’t. She just walked away, closing her eyes in regret.

“Did the fishy take the bait?” Joy asked her as she sat down.

Patricia felt so sick with guilt that she couldn’t speak, so merely replied with a nod.

........

Patricia and the rest of Sibuna where in the common room practising how to beat the next task in the tunnels, as while making her way over the chasm, she had nearly been beheaded by a pendulum and she wasn’t in a hurry to experience that again.

When they were interrupted by Joy, who grabbed Patricia by the arm, leading her out into the hallway, “Houston, we have a problem.” She informed her friend as she pointed over to Eddie.

Eddie was slowly making his way down the corridor, handing out the chocolate worms that Patricia had given him to everyone he came across “Chocolate?” He offered with a friendly smile. “Chocolate? Enjoy buddy.” He said palming off another. “You need a chocolate.” 

Patricia watched in horror as her plan went up in smoke, “Oh no.”she muttered to herself.

Eddie threw a nod Patricia’s way to let her know that he knew _exactly_ was he was doing, before turning with a wicked smile to offer the chocolates to their teachers, “Miss Andrews, Mr Sweet, chocolate? They’re fancy and french.”

Patricia sprinted down the hall to try and intercept the chocolates, “Oh no no no no no no.” She said as she made her way over and grabbed the chocolates from the confused teacher. “What are you doing?” She asked him through gritted teeth.

He turned to her with a fake smile and a blatant lie, “I don’t eat milk chocolate. Here.” He said offering the teachers new ones. He was determined, she’d give him that.

Patricia took the chocolates again, “But they’re a gift for him.” She told them trying to explain her actions, without alluding to the fact she knew what was truly going on. She turned to Eddie and under her breath, stressed. “I gave them to _you_.” 

“And a great one,” he pretended to be thankful, while lowering her hands to their sides to make sure she couldn’t lift her hands and ruin his plans for the third time “the sentiment is not lost on me, let me tell you.” He informed her with a fake smile.

Mr Sweet and Miss Andrews popped the chocolates into their mouths happily and were enjoying them until. “Oh no.” Mr Sweet uttered as he reached what lay beneath the chocolate.

“What on Earth?” Miss Andrews asked, as students the length of the hall all started retching, them too being victims of Eddie’s prank.

Eddie put a hand to his heart and faked disappointment, “You don’t like?”

Andrews snatched the box from him and read to herself in french, horror dawned on her expression when she realised what she’d involuntarily eaten, “Mealworms?”

Sweet began to understand too, “Beetle larvae?”

The teachers ran off, most likely to wash their mouths out, or to try and recover their dignity. Eddie turned to Patricia smug as fuck, “My mom made me take French class. Always thought it was pointless but boy was I wrong.” He handed her the box and swaggered off, knowing that he had won this round. Patricia, let a slight smile form. Against her better judgement, she was impressed.

..........

Joy had put Patricia’s name down for the school newspaper, and although she didn’t really want to go, she tagged along to support her friend. Though, she almost changed her mind, when she came into the classroom and saw Eddie lounging back in his chair, arms behind head, feet on desk, like he owned the place. There was truly no escape from him.

“What’s he doing here?” Patricia asked the teacher, both annoyed and confused. There was no way Eddie was here voluntarily, that boy did everything he could to avoid extracurriculars and schooling in general, he was always sneaking off for “Eddie Time.” There was no way he was here by choice.

Andrews didn’t look happy about his presence either, “Punishment for that little stunt he pulled with the chocolates. Apparently he speaks french.”

Eddie, with a glint in his eye, mumbled something under his breath in french to drive her point home.

Andrews was not amused, “Yes. I wanted something much harsher but Mr Sweet insisted it would be better if we put his creative energies towards something more constructive.”

“So...” Eddie lifted his arms and gestured to himself, “I’m a reporter.” He watched Patricia make her way past him and take the seat behind. Oddly close for someone who supposedly believes he’s a “cockroach,” he thought.

Patricia leaned forward and whispered, “You didn’t rat me out?”

“I don’t rat people out.” He replied with a wink.

She realised that these were her own words spoke back to her, and couldn’t help but feel a little flattered that he’d remembered their conversations at the ball.

.......

Eddie took his sloppy hoagie made of spaghetti bolognese that he had “created” to the table.

Joy leant through the kitchen serving hatch and asked, “So, what’s going on with you and Patricia then? You know the dancing, the put downs. Come on spill, have you got a thing for her or what?“

Eddie grinned and steepled his fingers to show his confidence, assuming that this meant that Patricia had told Joy she liked him and had sent her friend along to see if he felt the same. She might as well have sent Joy with one of those notes little kids send that ask, “Do you like me? Tick a box. Yes? No?”

Eddie chuffed, “What’d she say?”

Joy responded, “Nothing.” While nonchalantly picking at her nails.

Eddie span around in his chair to face the girl, “Nothing!” He sputtered out, through a mouthful of spaghetti bolognese.

Joy laughed at his desperation. It was so clear that he was interested in Patricia, “Wow, you really need to learn how to play it cooler.” Eddie looked disappointed, this was not a piece of advice he’d been given before, “Oh and you’ve got boy sandwich all over your mouth.” She said gesturing to her own face to show the mess he’d made on his.

“It’s a hoagie!” He corrected, shouting after her retreating form.

.........

Patricia walked into common room and was immediately met with Eddie who was on his way out, “Hey, you got a little...” he pointed to her shirt before flicking her in the nose. “Ha, seriously, you fell for that? Brits aren’t so clever after all, are ya?” He teased, while patting her on shoulder condescendingly.

“Weasel.”

“Hmmm.” He said, while widening his eyes, loving the back and forth that they had.

As Eddie left, she sat down next to Mara, who was feeling much the same about Eddie as she was.

“He just makes me want to scream.” Mara told her infuriated. “He’s so unprofessional.”

“I disagree, he’s  totally  professional... at being a jerk.” Mara nodded in agreement, “He’s practically my nemesis. I’ll share him if you like.” She offered.

“I think I’d like that.”

“But Mara,” she began as she leaned forward to educate the other girl, “the thing about having nemesisis ... nemesi?... Okay, the thing about having archenemies is, you have to constantly think up amazing ways of getting revenge on them.”

Mara nodded enthusiastically, “Oh, I definitely like that.” They put their heads together to come up with a plan to get back at Eddie. Sure, Mara’s reasoning was more to do with him letting the team down with schoolwork and Patricia’s was about her proving she could one up him after the whole chocolate worm fiasco, but still, together they could come up with a good scheme to knock him down a peg or two.

................

Mara had taken some convincing to play the prank on Eddie in the middle of the night after their curfew was in place, but Patricia had convinced her that Eddie would expect it less now than during the day, so Mara agreed. 

Although, the real reason the plan to get back at Eddie took place at night, was so it also doubled as one of the many ways Sibuna planned to stop Victor from having a full nights sleep. Two birds, one stone.

Patricia knocked on the boy’s door “Eddie! Wakey-wakey.”she taunted.

Eddie had stumbled to the door, rubbing sleep from his eye, “What?” He questioned, as a bucket of food dropped from the doorframe over his head, spilling leftovers all down him.

Patricia and Mara burst into peals of laughter, as Mara ran off before she could be caught.

Eddie didn’t take the bucket off his head and instead continued to walk with it on, bumping into things and breaking a vase, “I can’t see.” He said as he walked into the wall, resulting in the bucket to fall off just in time for him to see an angry Victor watching on.

“What on Earth is going on here?”

“Just having a midnight snack.” Patricia answered.

“Detention.” He said, as he approached them, waggling his fingers between the pair of them menacingly, “Detention for both of you, commencing tomorrow and ending perhaps never. Now clear up this mess and go to your rooms.”

Eddie was still half asleep and confused about the recent events, “What just happened?”

“Long story short. Victor. You and me. Detention.” She explained, proud of herself and believing that being stuck in detention with the boy was a small price to pay for the image of him stumbling around with a bucket on his head that would last her forever.

Eddie slapped his own face, “I’m not dreaming.” He stated. “Great. Goodnight.” He went back to his room.

“Point four, Sibuna.” Patricia proudly declared as she had successively managed to prank Eddie and distract Victor. 

... 

The next day Eddie and Patricia had been gathered into the kitchen by Victor to discover what their punishment for last nights actions would be. 

Victor paced in front of them like a drill sergeant, “I trust you are both rested and refreshed after last nights shenanigans?” 

“Yeah, feeling pretty great. Thanks for asking.” Eddie, who was now wide awake and back on form was ready to talk back to Victor and hopefully, as a result, impress Patricia. “Always feel great after a good night of shenanigans, don’t you Yacker?” He asked turning to the girl, trying to egg her into saying something.

Victor was having none of it, he wasn’t going to be outmatched by a pair of teenage delinquents. “Good. Good. Because you are both going to need a great deal of energy from now on.”

Patricia didn’t like the sound of that, “Come on. Lay it on us.” She was impatient and wanted to have this done with, what’s the worst it could be anyway? An earlier curfew? A grounding? Or maybe Victor would fall back on his old favourite of making students clean the toilets with just a toothbrush.

“Chore duty.” Victor declared.

Patricia heaved a sigh and rolled her head back. Why did the caretaker, have the authority to punish them anyway? Surely that wasn’t in his job description. It should be Trudy, she was their housemother after all.

Victor was as gleeful as only dishing out punishments could make him, “Three times per week, as and when I demand, without question, without argument, without fail. And you know where to start don’t you?” He handed them a Q tip each.

“With our ears?” Eddie joked.

“No.” He answered as he handed them a can of shoe polish.

Patricia grunted, “Ugh, what?” This was a weird punishment, even coming from Victor. Her and Eddie turned behind them and looked on, gobsmacked to see an assortment of many mud covered shows and boots lined up waiting for them.

“Great.” Eddie sarcastically stated as he bent down, Q tip in hand ready to begin a punishment that he hadn’t actually earned.

The fact that Eddie was being punished when he didn’t deserve it was a change of pace for him and the fact that his punishment would take place with Yacker was a bonus that made it worth it. They had grown close at the dance only for Eddie to do his usual self sabotage and ruin it, causing them to revert back to the way they had been before. But maybe spending these detentions with her would give them the chance to reconnect and for her to trust him again. Who knows where being forced to spend time together may lead them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first work so go easy on me, I already have three more chapters so let me know if you want to see them added. They are rehashes of peddie scenes but after that it's new material. Thanks for reading.


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